04 Hide 'n' Seek
by Cougarcreed
Summary: Mystique plans a trip for Sabretooth and his Cubs... and has they say "getting there is half the fun" or is it?


Disclaimer:

            This is a dimension #2 Griffin story. I don't know much about the whole Forge X-Factor situation, so I'm just going to wing it J.

Griffin in any dimension is mine, all mine. So if you want to use him please ask, submit a blood sample and write a 1,000,000 word explanation on what you want to do with him and then I might let you borrow him, the same thing goes for Metallica and the twins Loric and Navar.

As ever Marvel own all the rights to the X-Men, Sabretooth and X-Factor. I admit to borrowing them from time to time for my own nefarious purposes, without their permission, but since I don't make any money from this, I hope they will take pity on me and ignore what is in fact my tribute to their creations.

Hide and Seek

By DelCreed

griffincreed@hotmail.com

www.members.tripod.com/griffincreed

Started and finished on: August 20, 2002

"Ahaaa, do you smell all that fresh country air boys?" Sabretooth asked Griffin and the twins as they drove along in his new, dark green, station wagon. 

'Sure it has four-wheel drive and lots of trunk space for the camping gear, but even Mr. Summers' car was cooler looking and even Logan has a really rugged Jeep.' Griffin had been thinking when Sabretooth had spoken, he cast a doubtful look out at the green fields on either side of the car and the little red barns in the distance. :How can you call this air fresh… um, dad?: It was strange to be calling people anything other then sir or madam, in Vertigo's case 'aunt', but when the professor had insisted that Griffin call him 'father', Sabretooth had looked down to see Loric and Navar's hopeful faces looking at him and had grunted, 

"Hell, guess you're going to want to call me dad too. *Sigh* fine, but not in public." The twins had been overjoyed and insisted Griff had to call Sabretooth dad too.

:All I can smell are those barns with the big piles of cow poop sitting beside them. They must have also just fertilized the fields 'Cause they smell like rotten fish.: Griffin finished, Sabretooth snorted.

"All I said was the air was fresh, I never said it smelled any good." The twins chuckled together in the back seat. 

"PEE-"

"-EW" they said. Griffin turned to look at them smiling for the first time since this trip had started.

:Um... don't you mean POO-EW guys?: The twins howled with laughter and if Griff wasn't mistaken he'd even heard 'Dad' snort. "Are we almost there yet?: 

"Thought it would be one of the smaller ones askin' that question first. We'll get there when we're there, now check that map 'Stique gave us, there is a sharp turn off comin' up." 

'Didn't it figured, just three days after we've finally gotten a pool at the Snow valley school this whole thing, a 'Surprise' camping trip with 'dad', would be decided for us and it was all Mystique's idea.' Griff sighed as he pointed out the turn off, and Sabretooth, with a snarl, skidded across three lanes of highway to reach it. 'She planed everything from where we'd go right down to what we'll be eating, but she didn't even come along.' When Mystique had heard that Cable was taking Talica to Scotland for two weeks she'd started planning this trip, not wanting her 'Boys to grow up deprived'. Then she'd convinced Forge that it would be good thing for Sabretooth to 'Bond' with his kids, 

'might help knock off a few rough edges' she'd told him. 'Course she'd seen to it that the restraining collar on Creed had been reinforced and had also asked Forge to create a 'Nanny monitor', which now took up  half the trunk space in the car.

"It will monitor, with sound and visuals, their every movement. It has infrared, motion detectors, and multi level scanning. If anything goes wrong and the boys are in danger it can incapacitate Creed, and signal a distress call back to us. This is only the main unit, its active now and will be on from the moment the car pull out, once they arrive at the campsite the unit will establish itself in a hover pattern fifty feet in the air, making it tamper proof, and then it will deploy 'watcher' balls, that also have sound, visual and a minor stun shot, to blanket the area and act as relays back to the mother unit." Forge smiled as he went on, "These wristbands, for the boys, when press in the right sequence will give them a moment, about four minutes, of 'privacy' when they need it. Or it can send a distress signal straight to mother unit, which will send watcher globes to help them till we arrive."  Now here they were in the car, one big frustrated almost family. They'd been driving for five hours, having gotten up at the crack of dawn to beat the rush-hour traffic out of the city, and it looked like the only thing Creed was use to stopping for, when he drove, was gas. The first 'unscheduled' stop had been a bathroom break for Loric, 'course Navar didn't have to go till fifteen minutes later and they'd had to pull over again with Creed saying the next stop wasn't till they needed gas or someone was dieing. Griff had had to go about forty minutes later, he had looked at the gas gage still 'half full', and kept his mouth shut till he couldn't stand it any longer. So with a thought he'd cast an illusion over the dial so it looked like it was hovering near empty, before he told Victor that it would be wise to stop soon. Sabretooth had snarled, 

"Fuel efficient my ass." And pulled into a rest stop Griff had hurried to get out of the car, "Hey where you goin'?"

:Snack run, Breakfast, Drinks.: It was torture having to think about that last one, but at Creed's nod Griff was in the restaurant/convince store before the twins had even opened their doors. Victor looked at the two boys.

"Don't go getting lost, turning invisible, or getting any attention from people and stay away from the rigs." Creed pointed a large clawed finger at the large 18-wheelers, "Some of those people ain't right in the head, too much sleep deprivation and lonely hours, they might decide to snatch you." The twins nodded, their eyes wide, satisfied Creed had turned back to the gas pumps. The twins had then looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Pop after the-" Navar started,

"Marauders tried to-"

"Play tag with us-"

"They found out-"

"Even without claws-"

"We got bite dad." Loric finished.

"I don't care if you tussled with Apocalypse on Sundays, you don't leave my sight." Creed found himself standing there, pointing a finger at the two boys and his jaw went slack when he realized, 'God, I'm a parent… what has Mystique done to me?' "Now go find your brother and tell him what you want to eat." The twins smiled and ran into the building. Once inside they looked for Griff but he wasn't there in line for the cash or ordering food, worried they rushed for the door to tell their dad, only to meet him coming in. "Something is wrong with the gas gage, tank was still half full, might as well eat breakfast now." He saw their worried faces, "What's wrong." 

"We can't-"

"find Griff!" Creed took a deep breath, and pointed to the bathrooms, 

"He went in there, remind me teach you all some trackin' skills this week. I'll get him… Mr. 'we need gas' sure. Decide what you want we'll be right out." And he went in the Jon to get the boy who definitely had his mom's skill of sneakiness. Unbeknownst to them there was a door near the bathrooms that was closer to where Griff saw the car parked, so while the others talked inside, he went out that way to avoid most of the people, but this exit also brought him closer to the 18-Wheelers. 

"Hey… Kid!" Griff looked over at the man who'd called out to him, it was one of the rig drivers he guessed as he walked over. 

:Yes?: Griffin remembered to move his lips in time with his sound effect created 'Voice'. The man smiled wider, even without his brother's and dad's heightened scenes Griff could smell him. :Can I help you?: The man smiled wider and his eyes looked strange, and Griffin having grown up with mutants knew some pretty strange eyes, this man's were scary.

"Get in the truck." Griff raised his eyebrow.

:'Scuse me?" The man pulled a knife.

"Now beautiful, we're leaving." Griff was about to say 'you have got to be kidding' but the weirdo cut him off, "Not one word kid, get in." And he opened the storage space under his cab. Griff froze, sure he had powers but he'd only used them in Gen-X training against robots and holograms, and with his iffy control over his claws he could kill this man. The wristband beeped to signal that the quiet time he'd requested to go to the bathroom was over and Griff thought of something, he quickly pressed one of the com button as he said,

:I don't care if you use that knife your holding on me, I'm not getting into your truck.: Then he struck what J-Lee called his 'Hero' pose and released his claws as he hissed, like the Cougar he took his codename from, to show the would-be kidnapper his fangs, as he let his coiled tail fall from under his jacket. The man looked at him for a moment before he griped the knife tighter and swearing,

"A mutant! Shit! Guess I'll just kill you now instead of later, to bad you'd be one hell of a gorgeous fuck, even with a tail it would have been interesting." But as he took a step towards Griff a large hand closed around his neck, and he couldn't get out anything louder then a squeak.

:Hi dad!: Griffin said with relief flowing over him.

"If you want to kill my cub, you'll have to take a piece of me first and the bad news is I get to decide which piece you get." Sabretooth smiled at the man, who dropped the knife and started to make a puddle on the ground. "Guess you should have gone before 'Thieving' flat-scan. Griff get the rope from the car."

:Um, but Forge's collar?: Creed looked at him.

"Forge said I could 'take care of him' as long as I didn't kill him, heard Mystique yelling in the background 'What do you mean don't kill him!' then I think she hit him because there was this metallic thunk sound and she said she'd come and do it if I didn't." That was good enough for Griff, so he ran and got the rope from the trunk, when he came back he saw Creed whispering in the man's ear and that the man was crying. "Now put your tail away, go join your brothers and order us some food, I be right there as soon as I wash my hands." Griff nodded and hurried back inside after glancing back once. "And here I thought this trip wasn't going to be any fun." Sabretooth smiled and got to work, remembering how for a second he'd felt an icy chill run down his spine when he heard Griffin's nervous voice coming to him over the com badge as he refused to be kidnapped. 'So this is how it feels to worry about someone besides myself… it sucks.' Moments later he was back in the restaurant booth with the boys enjoying a plate of Bacon, eggs and steak. "Perfect." 

"Guess you-"

"Should have told-"

"Griff about the Riggs-"

"Too." The twins whispered, Victor nodded,

"Ya, I'll have to keep a closer eye on all of ya form now on." Griffin groaned and the twins rolled their eyes.  "At least till I teach 'pretty boy' here how to use those claws for more then just picking his teeth." Griffin stopped and took his finger out of his mouth.

:Um… Loric hand me a tooth pick will you?: As they ate the last of the food a man came running in from the parking lot.

"Someone call the cops and an ambulance, there is a naked man tied to the grill of one of the rigs out there," The man pointed back to the parking lot, "he's gagged with something and has the word 'Molester' carved into his forehead. There are cuts all over his body and-" Many people left their seats and rushed to the door to follow the man back out to see what he was talking about, others stayed seated and held back curious children.  Griff looked at his dad.

:What did you gag him with, his cloths? I only gave you some rope.: Creed smiled.

"I just used an old Native American way of dealing with rapist and killers." Griffin thought for a moment, then his eyes went wide and he literally turned green before their eyes.

:'Scuse me.: He whispered then ran for the bathroom.

"Don't forget to gargle after, I don't want to have to smell it on your breath the rest of the day." Sabretooth advised as he watched the boy go.

"What's wrong-" 

"With Griff?" the twins asked. Creed sighed.

"He grew up soft, come on he'll be hungry later lets grab some snacks. Whoever packed the food for the trip forgot that its for four people with healing factors," Creed held the com badge closer to his mouth, "Must be someone with a real Mommy complex, who's biological clock is tickin' real loud." She smiled at the twins confused faces. "So what dose your brother like to eat? I should get him some gum too." Once in the store part of the rest area the twins split up and used their divide and concur method of shopping, Loric got the drinks, Navar the candy and Creed took Griff's usual position of choosing the chips, with a reminder to get 'pork rinds' if they had them. 

"'Cause they're" 

"Griff's favorites." The twins had assured him, and Victor guess the boy did have something besides his claws and build, he had Creed's good taste in food. When Griff joined them he looked pail but didn't say anything but,

:At least now he won't hurt anyone else, and they'll see him coming a mile away, now." Once outside Griff grabbed both twins and marched them to the car as they protested that, 

"Everyone else got" 

"to see the naked man." But Griff told them he had smelled bad before Sabretooth had gotten his hands on him and would smell even worse now, so they went to the car peacefully as Griff started chewing on some Clorets™ his dad handed him, but he had to ask, 

:It fit in his mouth?:

"Never seen one so small." Creed confirmed, Griff just took another piece of gum and nodded. After that neither Griff or the twins had really wanted to stop again anytime soon, so they turned on the radio and kept cursing down the highway. Some time later a song came on the radio that had Sabretooth humming and before long he was singing to it. "Me and Birdie use to sing this one." He said during a pause in the lyrics. They didn't know who Birdie was but if he/she could put up with their dad's singing they had to be one tough costumer. When the words started again, Griff turned and smiled at the twins. Soon, all four were screeching together like cats with their tails caught in a blender.

"-you may be right, I maybe crazy, oh but it just might be a lunatic you're lookin' for. Turn out the lights, don't try to save me. You maybe wrong, but for all I know it, you maybe right." (the song is 'You maybe right' by Billy Joel guys) Now here they were at a secluded campsite and after a start like that, who knew what could happen next.

The end for now.

Linda J. I did it, I wrote a whole fic today. Its in the DelCreed, D2 Griffin file. and I put it on my web page, on 'X-Men fiction page one' Its called 'Hide and Seek" I tried to make it about the twins but Griff just kept butting in.  
  
Griff: Did not you like me too much to leave me out.  
  
Del: If I like you so much kid, why did I have you toss your cookies?  
  
Griff: I was the only one smart enough to understand what Vic was saying.  
  
Del: You call him 'Dad' young man.  
  
Griff: Whatever.  
  
Del: Anyway I wrote a new fic (glairs at Griff who is tap-dancing across desk) and I hope you like it. (*Thump* Trips Griff and starts tickling him).  
  
Griff: So has anyone taken 'Dad' away from you yet?  
  
Del: No I scare them, Dyslexic minds are twisted you know.  
  
Griff: Do I ever, love ya aunty Del.  
  
Del: Dido kitten. Sorry I forgot to write this on the last note, Sorry Linda J.  
  
DelCreed  
  
Griff: I reminded her!  
  
Del: *Sigh* yes, only after I'd pressed the post button.  
  
Griff: So you're faster in your old age than I thought, *Wack* Ouch,   
I take it back you're very spry!  
  
Del: what was it Linda J. said about 'skinning cats'?


End file.
